The Black Swan's Little Toy
by ThisSlytherinIsDun
Summary: When Fitz is captured and tortured by the Neverseen, will Sophie and the crew rescue him before he dies? Set after Lodestar, so Lodestar spoilers. This is not a "book six" fanfiction, it's just a scenario that happened in my head. Rated T for torture.
1. Prologue

**Hey everyone. I got the idea for this, and hopefully I'll stick with it, and it'll be a lot of chapters. Please let me know if I get any facts wrong so I can fix it.**

Alvar pulled open the door knob, pausing when the conversation in the room immediately ceased. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but walked calmly to the table in the center of the room. As he sat down, he asked, "So, what's the plan?"

Fintan sighed. "That's right, you weren't here. I suppose you should know. We are going to capture one of the Black Swan's little toys. We will torture them for information."

"And how do you propose to capture one, seeing as it's proved difficult before?" said Alvar, raising an eyebrow.

"We'll use their emotions against them," said Fintan carefully. He did not elaborate.

Alvar held in a sigh, and asked, "So, which one are we planning on taking?"

Finan switched his gaze to Ruy, and motioned for him to explain.

Ruy seemed hesitant. "We are planning on kidnapping.. Fitz."

When Alvar remained silent, Gethen spoke up. "Surely this won't be a problem," he said smoothly. "You wouldn't mind.. interrogating.. your brother?"

"Or would you rather go back to your family and live in your _little brother's_ , the Golden Child, shadow?" cut in Fintan before Alvar could reply.

Alvar's eye's hardened. "It won't be a problem. But why do you want me to torture him? Wouldn't any of you be better suited?"

"Oh, we're all tormenting him," Ruy assured.

"But still, I won't be as.. effective."

"You have something, something nothing of us have," said Fintan. Alvar shot him a questioning look, but Fintan said, "I do not wish to explain. I've had enough of your questions."

Fintan, Ruy, and Gethen left the room, leaving Alvar to puzzle out what Fintan meant. _Something they don't_ , Alvar thought. _Fintan can burn him, Ruy can sting him, and Gethen can torture him in his mind. But all I can do is use weapons._

He tapped his fingers on the table, when realization hit him. _For one thing, I'm his brother. No matter how much he hates me, that's_ got _to hurt. And also, sometimes the worst part of pain is not knowing where it'll hit next. When I'm invisible, he won't know where I'll hit him next._

Alvar smiled, not bothered in the least at the prospect of torturing his little brother. _The Golden Child will finally get what's coming to him._

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	2. Chapter 1

Sophie giggled. She and Fitz were doing Cognate training, which involved revealing embarrassing secrets.

 _You really glued feathers to some of your clothes, and pretended to be a dinosaur?_ She transmitted to Fitz.

He smiled slightly. _Hey, it was to entertain Biana, since she was sick._

 _You're a good big brother._

 _You have no idea._

Sophie burst into a fit of giggles again.

 _Okay your turn!_ Fitz transmitted.

Before Sophie could reply, Keefe jogged up. "Having fun staring into each other's eyes?" he smirked.

Sophie turned red. "What do you want, Keefe?" she asked, a little harder than she had intended.

"Hey, no need to be so harsh, Foster. Anyway, Dex made a new gadget that he wants to show us. He kept bothering me until I agreed to go get you guys."

Fitz and Sophie exchanged a glance. They simultaneously got up, and followed Keefe to where Dex was sitting. He was fiddling with what looked like the ability restrictor Sophie had been forced to wear.

"Dex, what is that?" Sophie asked, her voice shaking.

Dex's head jerked up. "It's not an ability restrictor, I swear. It's something else entirely. It's supposed to help Amy wake up sooner."

Amy had fainted after she had seen Sophie. The Neverseen had implanted a drug inside her. It had been a week, and she still hadn't woken up.

"I don't really trust that," Sophie said slowly.

"It won't hurt her-"

"No, Dex," Sophie said, almost shouted, firmly.

Dex recoiled, scooped up his devise, and walked away.

Sophie sighed. "I shouldn't have said that, should I?" she asked, turning to Fitz.

"It wasn't exactly.. the most ethical thing to say," Fitz said carefully.

Keefe snorted. "You could say that again. His hand brushed against mine when he walked off. He was depressed."

Sophie's eyes started to well with tears, and Fitz glared at Keefe. Keefe realized his mistake too late, and attempted to redeem himself.

"Foster, I'm sure it's-"

"Quiet, Keefe," Sophie snapped.

"Look, I shouldn't have said what I did." As he spoke, he took her hand.

Sophie sntached her wrist from his grip. "Leave me alone," she growled. She stormed away.

Keefe and Fitz exchanged a look. "She got.. Emotional," said Keefe finally.

"Yeah, she's usually more level-headed than that. I think it's just been hard for her, ever since Mr. Forkle's death, and Amy," sighed Fitz. "I'll go find her."

"I could do it," Keefe offered as Fitz started to walk away.

Fitz shot him a side glance. "I think I should do it."

Keefe's shoulders slumped. "Yeah."

"Hey," Fitz said. "She'll come around. You'll be back to team Foster-Keefe in no time."

Keefe smiled weakly at him. "Thanks."

Fitz walked to Sophie's room, planning what he was going to say. He knocked on the door to Sophie's room.

"Come in," he heard Sophie say. He turned the knob, and sat down on Sophie's bed next to her.

"Keefe didn't mean it," he said after a while.

"I-" Sophie was cut off from the sudden appearance of a person in her room.

Fitz's jaw dropped in shock. "Alvar?" he asked in disbelief.

Sophie scrambled to put on her sucker punch, fumbling with the switch. She couldn't inflict, because all she felt was a deep nothingness.

Fitz, in the meantime, froze in shock. "What are you doing here?" he spat angrily.

"You could always surrender," Sophie offered.

Alvar strode to Fitz, but he never got far enough. Sophie sucker punched him in the face.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't knock you unconscious," Fitz growled.

"Because I'm your brother?"

Fitz laughed bitterly. "You are no brother of mine."

Alvar pulled out a melder. "Resist, and I'll shoot her," he said, pointing it at Sophie. "Or, you could do what I say."

Fitz's expression darkened. "What do you want?"

Alvar didn't reply. Instead, he tossed a leaping crystal to Fitz. We are going to light leap to that place. Just you and me. Now."

Fitz looked at Sophie, and her eyes pleaded with him to not do as Alvar ordered. Swallowing hard, Fitz did it anyway.

Alvar grabbed Fitz's arms, pinned them behind Fitz's back, and stepped into the path. It closed behind them.

Sophie finally came out of her trance. She tried to track him, panicking when she couldn't find his mind. She stretched out her consciousness, frantically searching for his thoughts, and his location. Nothing. She couldn't find him.

The realization of what had just happened hit her. Fitz had been _taken_. Not knowing what else to do, she screamed. She felt the breath whoosh out of her, and she gasped for air. _Fitz_ had been _taken_. She racked her brain, trying to figure out where they would've taken him. _Fitz_ had _been taken_. She tried to figure out why. _Fitz had been taken_. She needed to tell the others.

She dashed downstairs, and tried to find the others.

She found Keefe where she had left him. "You need to come with me, and help me find the others."

Keefe looked at her curiously. "Why?"

Sophie gave him a sharp look. "Just come."

After a bit of searching, they found Dex. "You need to come with us, and help us find Tam and Linh," she said, repeating her message.

Dex gave her a funny look, but said nothing, unsure of whether or not he was in her good graces again.

They quickly found Tam and Linh, who were together.

"Alright Foster, spill," demanded Keefe.

"Fitz was just captured. By the Neverseen," she breathed, gulping down tears which threatened to come. "I tried to track him, or find his thoughts, but.. I couldn't. I think Gethen must have done something to stop me from finding him."

There was stone dead silence. Everyone froze for a few seconds, and then realization sunk in. Everyone had a shocked and scared expression on their face.

Keefe looked lost in thought. "I wonder which hideout they took him to."

Sophie turned on him. "That's what you're worried about?" she asked incredulously.

"No. But if we know which hideout he's in, it would be easier to find him."

Dex pulled out a gadget from his back pocket. He pushed a few buttons, and frowned deeply. "I can't track his panic switch. They must have destroyed it."

Linh looked troubled, but said nothing.

Tam looked at Sophie expectantly.

Sophie turned to him. "What?" she asked when she saw his expression.

"I'm sure you have a plan," he replied simply.

"Not really.." Sophie started, but trailed off. "Actually.."

Tam smirked. "Show us what you got Sophie."

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	3. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, sorry this chapter is so short.**

Fitz startled awake as ice cold water was poured over him. They had strapped him to a chair, and knocked him unconscious.

He saw Gethen's face smirking back at him.

Fitz struggled against his bonds. "Why did you bring me here?"

"We need answers."

"Why take me? Why not just attack us?"

"The crystal we used only works once. And it can only fit two people in the leap at a time. Better to capture one than nothing."

"Why me? Why not Sophie?" Fitz was glad that Sophie hadn't been the one to be taken, but he was curious why.

"Your mind is weaker than hers. Now, I'll be asking the questions, thank you very much," Gethen said. "I'm lucky. I get the first session with you." He smiled cruelly.

"Now," Gethen said, "What is the Black Swan planning?"

Fitz stared straight ahead, refusing to answer.

Gethen looked at him coolly. "No answer? Alright, how about this: How are they planning to take us down?"

Fitz would not answer.

"Lost your vocal cords, eh?" Gethen said. "Don't worry. We'll soon recover them." He entered Fitz's mind, and started to attack and trigger parts of Fitz's brain.

Fitz screamed in pain.

"Answer, and I'll make it stop," offered Gethen.

Fitz gritted his teeth. "I'll never tell you," he spat, and grimaced when the pain increased.

"Very well. I'll leave you to stew. Maybe after a few hours, you'll be more willing to talk." Gethen caused Fitz to hallucinate, and see his worst fears.

Fitz saw spiders crawling all over him.

He saw all his friends dying, a betrayed look on their face.

He saw Sophie with a broken mind.

The nightmares went on and on and on.

He was left like this for hours, and after it was over, Fitz slumped in relief.

Gethen strolled back in, and repeated his questions. He was met with silence. "Still refusing to talk?" Gethen called in Fintan. "Maybe you can get it out of him." Gethen left the room.

Fintan turned to Fitz, and a sphere of fire formed in Fintan's hand. "Answer the questions, and I won't hurt you _too_ much. Now. What is the Black Swan planning?"

Fitz refused to answer, and instead spat at Fintan's feet.

"You will pay for that," Fintan growled. From outside the room, the rest of the Neverseen could hear Fitz's screams for hours. Eventually, Fintan left.

Fitz shuddered, burned beyond imagination.

But he waited for rescue.

And hoped.

And remained unbroken.

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	4. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'm sorry that these chapters are so short. I'll try to make them longer in the future.**

"Okay," Sophie said, her thoughts clearing. "Keefe, I need you to draw a layout of all the hideouts you've been to, and what the outside surroundings look like. Try to remember every detail. Maybe we can pinpoint where Fitz is."

Keefe nodded, and grabbed a pen and paper, starting to sketch.

"Dex, I need to you try to track Fitz's registry pendant. Also, our Cognate rings are trackable. See if you can find a signal."

Dex raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know your rings were trackable."

"It's one of the features. We never told anyone because- well… I don't know why." Sophie shrugged.

"I'll need your rings to be able to track his," Dex said, holding his hand out.

Sophie quickly slipped them off, and turned to Tam and Linh.

"I need you two to write a message to the Collective, explaining what's happening. Ask them what we should do."

The twins nodded simultaneously, and grabbed a pen and paper, starting to write.

"I'm going to research the color crystal I saw, and see if I can find where it leads," Sophie finished.

Sophie walked over to the bookshelf, and grabbed all the books on leaping crystals. She opened the first book. She flipped the pages, scanning the pictures, but didn't find anything. She opened the next book, and used the same process. Nothing.

Tam came up to her. He wordlessly handed her a slip of paper, which said:

Fitz has been kidnapped. We can't track him. Advice?

"That sounds good. Could you and Linh go put that in the cave?" Sophie asked.

Tam nodded, and he and Linh walked off.

Sophie picked up the next book on crystals, and again, didn't find anything. She groaned inwardly. Picking up the last book, she hoped that it had something. Halfway through, she stopped. There it was! She grinned, until she read the passage. It said:

This crystal is an extremely rare crystal. There is only one, and where it leads to is unknown.

Great.

Just then, Keefe called her over. "I finished the sketches."

"Great," Sophie said. Which one would they most likely take him to?"

Keefe pointed to one of his sketches. "This one, probably. It's where they take prisoners."

Sophie scanned the drawing. And it looked like.. any other underground base. Wonderful.

"Sorry," Keefe said.

Sophie shook her head. "No, it's fine. I just-"

She was cut off by the arrival of Tam and Linh.

"We put the note in place," Linh said quietly.

"Thanks. Dex, how are things going?"

Dex frowned. "Well, they must have destroyed his registry pendant, because I can't find that either."

Sophie sighed in frustration. "And our Cognate rings?"

"I have a trace, but it's weird." He showed Sophie the screen of his device. "It pinpoints a location, but it doesn't give us much information, because it only shows where it is in its surroundings. But I have no idea where those surrounding _are_."

Sophie tugged out an itchy eyelash. "We'll have to find them then," she said finally.

"How?" asked Tam.

Sophie said, "By looking everywhere if we have to. Linh, can you create water pure enough to drink?"

Linh nodded.

"Good. That's one less thing we have to bring. Tam-"

"Hey," interrupted Keefe. "I just realized.. where's Biana?"

Sophie glanced at him. "She's at Everglen. Recovering."

"From?"

"From everything that's been happening. Can you honestly say that you don't want a break? Anyway, Tam- I need you to pack the food. Enough for a long time. Dex, pack all your tech gizmos. Keefe, get some necessary supplies. Once you're all done with that, everyone pack some of your clothes. I'm gonna get everything else. Understood?"

Everyone nodded, and went to pack. In total, they had five bags. One for each person.

"Where are we going first, Foster?" asked Keefe.

Sophie took out a map, and scanned it. She bit her lip. "I suppose we'll have to guess. Let's start..." She closed her eyes, and randomly pointed to a place on the map. "Here." They looked at the location. It was in the middle of the an ocean. Sophie turned red. "Um, I meant here," and again she pointed at a random spot. This time, her finger hit land. She mentally memorized the location.

The five of them trudged up to a cliff near Havenfield. They locked hands, and jumped.

The ground cracked open, and plunged them into the void.

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	5. Chapter 4

**Hey everyone, another chapter! (Sorry if I'm spamming your notifications..) I just can't seem to draw out these chapters. *sigh* Hopefully the next one will be longer..**

Fintan sighed as he walked out of the dungeon. _Why won't he break?_ He thought in frustration.

He walked up to Alvar and Ruy. "We need a new plan. Me and Gethen can't get him to talk," Fintan said.

Ruy shrugged. "I can't hurt him as much as you or Gethen. All I can do is sting him with a forcefield."

Fintan turned to Alvar. "I think it's time for a little brotherly love."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Entering the room, Alvar closed the door the door behind him. He walked up to the chair Fitz sat in, and knelt down next to him.

"You know, you don't have to endure this," he said quietly. "You could just tell us what we need to know."

Fitz laughed, and coughed from the effort that took. "You really think I'll listen to _you_?! And that I'd really betray Sophie and the others? Ya know, you are as dumb as they say."

Alvar straightened. "Well then. Let's get started." He vanished, and Fitz suddenly felt a stab in his side.

Fitz gasped in pain, and gritted his teeth as he repeatedly was beat over and over with various objects in various places. After a minute, Alvar reappeared. "You were always the Golden child," he whispered. "Now look at you. Weak. Beaten."

"But not broken," Fitz spit out.

Alvar glowered at him, and resumed his torture. After a few minutes, he left.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Alvar stomped to Fintan. "I didn't even make a dent," he said. "It doesn't matter that I'm his brother."

Fintan raised an eyebrow. "I doubt that. He could just be covering his hurt."

"That well? I know my brother. He's not very good at hiding his emotions." Alvar shook his head. "He has no family feelings left for me."

"Well," Fintan sighed, "I suppose we'll have to take in the Weapon."

Alvar recoiled. "So soon? It's only been a couple days."

"And he's shown _so_ much chance of breaking with our three best torturers," Fintan said sarcastically. "No, we'll use it."

"You say 'it'. You realize that she's human, right?"

"She might as well not be. Too cruel, and her ability is.. rare."

"Well, it's just as well that we rescued her from Lumenaria."

0o0o0o0o0o0

Fitz closed his eyes when Alvar left, and released a sigh of relief. He was left alone with his thoughts, and he tried once again to transmit to Sophie. When he attempted, it felt like his thoughts were hitting a brick wall. He sighed, and rested, knowing he needed it while he could get it.

Suddenly, he felt a shock in his side. He shot awake, and cried out in surprise and pain. The shocks continued, all over his body. He craned his neck to try to see his attacker, but the person moved lightning fast.

Soon, the pain overcame him, and he fell into unconsciousness.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"He fell unconscious so soon?" Fintan demanded.

The person he was talking to shrugged. "He's weak," she said calmly. "When he wakes, I'll get him to break in no time."

Fintan growled. "You'd better."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Fitz awoke with a jolt, and all he knew was pain. He heard the door open, and remembered the shocks from before. He grimaced. _Not again_. With all the energy he could muster, he prepared to try to defend himself, but stopped in shock when he saw who it was.

"...you? What are _you_ doing here?!"

The girl smiled at him.

"How- what -when-" Fitz sputtered.

"Well, I was the other person they rescued from Lumenaria. The forgotten secret," she said casually.

"But- how- how are you _alive_?!"

The girl smirked. "One word. Coverup."

"But your ability.. it's not.." Fitz trailed off, not sure how to continue.

"Conjurer? Ohh.. that .. well I have two."

"Apparently," Fitz snorted, having overcome his initial shock. "You realize that Grady and Edaline think that you're dead."

"Oh, Mom and Dad? They always were clueless."

"Why, Jolie? What caused you to turn?"

"I wanted to be with Brant. The Black Swan didn't fit me. Mom and Dad _acted_ supportive, but if I actually married him, they would've _thrown_ a _fit_. So we faked the fire, and here I am."

"Why didn't the Council tell the Ruewens when they caught you doing whichever crime landed you in Lumenaria?"

"They wanted to keep it quiet. Mom and Dad were too far gone by that time. My crimes were apparently too horrible for their fragile minds to handle. And they trusted that I was securely locked up in their _precious_ Lumenaria. So they chose to forget me."

"What did you do?"

"Trust me. You _don't_ want to know. Now, enough questions. My turn. What are the Black Swan's plans?"

Fitz clammed up.

"Oh come on. I answered yours. You're turn to talk."

Fitz glared up at her.

"Come on sweetie," Jolie said in a voice filled with honey. "You don't want a repeat of last time, do you?"

She shocked him, and he gritted his teeth.

"Oops. Did that hurt?" she said in a sugary voice. "Well," she continued, her voice hardening, "Let's keep going, shall we?"

She shocked him over and over, moving lightning fast. Fitz screamed hoarsely.

Jolie suddenly stopped. "What's this?" she asked, inspecting the knife wound that Alvar had given him. It was the only puncture wound that Fitz had received. She cursed under her breath. "We're not supposed to kill you. You could have bled out!"

She strode out of the room, but returned quickly with a needle and thread. She stitched up the wound, and Fitz cried out from the pain.

She quickly finished. "There. Now you won't bleed out. Now, where were we? Ah.. yes."

She resumed shocking him, and she kept at it long into the night. Until finally, mercifully, Fitz fell unconscious. She grimaced. "I'll have to stop that," she muttered under her breath. She walked out.

Fitz slept in his unconsciousness.

Waiting.

Hoping.

Unbroken.

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	6. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, thank to all my reviewers! And also, I think this is the shortest chapter yet. Sorry about that.**

The void was suffocating, and made it hard to focus. Sophie took a deep breath, and pictured the place on the map she had memorized. She focused on every detail. She remembered the scene perfectly. A gray colored brick street, with red colored buildings on each side. A black and white tiled ground on either side of the road. And finally, a tall fountain with water gushing out, the water crystal clear, and sparkling in the daylight.

The void cracked open, and Sophie barely had time to grab the other's' hands before they fell though, landing in the fountain with a splash.

Sophie sat up, spluttering, and spitting out water. She looked around at her surrounding, and thankfully no one was there to have noticed them falling out of the sky.

Dex coughed out water from his throat. "It's a good thing we brought extra clothes. And water proof bags."

Sophie nodded absentmindedly. "Keefe, this looks like one of the surroundings in your drawing. Is this the right place?"

Keefe looked around and shrugged. "It could be. It's kinda hard to get good detail when you're holed up inside a fortress."

Sophie raised an eyebrow. "Some fortress."

Keefe looked around, and pointed to the first of the red bricked buildings. "If we're in the right place, the base will be in there."

Pushing himself up off from the fountain, Keefe unzipped his bag, tossing a melder to everyone. "You'll need these if we're in the right place."

Tam inspected his carefully. "Where'd you get these?"

"Borrowed them."

"From…?"

"Tam, now is not the time for a Q and A."

"You stole them, didn't you?" Tam said flatly.

Keefe shrugged. "Desperate times call for desperate measures."

Tam snorted.

Sophie stood up in the fountain, her clothes dripping wet. "We're wasting time. I don't need this," she said, tossing her melder back to Tam. "I can use my inflicting."

The rest of the group climbed out of the fountain as well, shaking themselves of the water as best as they could.

As they walked towards the building, a heavy silence fell over them. Linh prepared a water sphere to knock the door down.

Sophie whispered, "In three, two, one.."

Linh knocked the door down, and immediately everyone felt a force knock the melders from their hands.

Keefe narrowed his eyes. "Hello Trix. Umber."

Trix looked between him, and the rest of the group. "We could see you from the window. Sloppy," she said finally.

Sophie got ready to drop Trix and Umber with her inflicting, when Tam cried out from behind her. Sophie whirled around, and Tam lay on the ground, writhing in pain.

"What did you do?" Linh hissed.

Umber smirked. "It's a type of pain only a Shade can cause another Shade. He's weak." She turned to Sophie. "If you even so much as _try_ inflicting, he suffers."

All the fight went out of Sophie. Trix quickly walked forward, tying Sophie and her friends up tightly.

"Why are you guys here?" asked Keefe.

"Watching over this base," replied Trix simply. "Now, my turn. Why are you here?"

When there was no reply, Umber narrowed her eyes, and Tam cried out in pain.

"Fine!" Sophie snapped. "We came looking for Fitz."

Trix and Umber exchanged an amused glance.

"Well, he's definitely here, sweetie," said Umber sweetly. "And now, we have all of you as well." She turned to Trix. "Alert Fintan."

Trix nodded, and walked to a different room.

Umber turned to them, grinning. "This is very.. convenient."

After a few minutes, Trix walked back in. "He says to separate their cells. Take them all to a different hideout so they're less likely to escape. He also said that he wants to keep interrogating only Fitz. Since he's the most likely to break, seeing as he's been our prisoner for a few days."

Umber nodded. "I thought as much."

Sophie stole a glance at her friends, and gulped. They were now even farther from helping Fitz. And it sounded like he needed it more than ever.

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	7. Chapter 6

**Hey guys, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed!**

Fintan smiled cruelly. "We have all of them?"

Trix hesitated. They were talking over an Imparter as Trix explained in more detail what, exactly, had happened when they had caught Sophie and her friends. "All but the Vanisher ," she admitted.

Fintan waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "A small matter. Which cell did you put each in?"

"I put the Technopath in 689, The Shade in 948, The Hydrokinetic in 089, Keefe in 987, and _Sophie_ in 989."

"Good choice. If they're all separated, they can't break out together. What did you do to subdue them?"

"Well, I put the Techno-"

"Please. Call them by their names," interrupted Fintan.

"I don't know them."

"The Tech is Dex, Shade is Tam, and Hydro is Linh."

"How do you know that?" asked Trix curiously.

"I don't have time to explain," snapped Fintan. "I need to get going on interrogating that boy. Now, _how did you subdue them_?"

"For- Dex, you said?"

Fintan gritted his teeth and nodded.

"For Dex and Linh, I drugged them. For Keefe and Tam, I just tied them up. Their abilities can't help them."

"Never underestimate them, Trix."

Trix gulped. "Do you want me to drug them too?"

Fintan nodded curtly.

"I'll do it right after this call. And lastly, before I drugged Dex, I forced him to create an ability restrictor for Sophie. She's is barely conscious, much less making plans to escape."

"Good choice. How did you force Dex to make a restrictor?"

"I threatened to kill Sophie if he didn't."

"Hmm. Well done," said Fintan. "Now, I'm going to see if I can _finally_ get that _arrogant_ Vacker to tell me something, or, better yet, break." He ended the call without another word. Standing up, he called Jolie and Alvar to him. "I think this session requires three to get it done right."

O00o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Fitz was slumped in his chair, but he straightened when he heard the door open. He saw three figures walking towards him, but his eyes were so blurred that he couldn't make out who they were.

One of them vanished as he neared the chair.

 _Alvar_ , Fitz thought.

One had a sphere of brightness in one hand.

 _Fintan_ , Fitz realized.

And one had sparks of light going back and forth between each hand.

 _Jolie_ , Fitz finished.

Fitz suddenly felt a driving force in his stomach, and he gasped. As he coughed, the force came again, and again, and again, until finally it stopped. As Fitz struggled for air, Fintan brought the sphere of fire a hair away from his face. Fitz tried to cringe away, but he was too weak.

While he was distracted by the flame, Jolie shocked him. If he tried to move his head to see where she would shock him next, he would be burned by the flame Fintan held.

Then Fintan made his attack.

He burned Fitz, over and over, while Jolie shocked him over and over. Fitz screamed hoarsly from the pain. Finally, they both stopped.

 _What are_ _they doing now_? Fitz thought wearily. To his surprise, both Fintan and Jolie left the room. His thoughts felt cloudy, and he couldn't figure out why they had left, until suddenly it came to him. Alvar. Alvar was still in the room.

"Where are you?" he shouted. His voice was weak though, and it came out as more of a whisper.

He heard Alvar's cackles, the sound echoing, and sounding like it came from everywhere.

"Do you remember when we were kids?" came Alvars voice. "And everyone doted over you. 'Oh, he's such a talented Telepath.' 'Such a charming little boy.'"

"People are idiots," said Fitz weakly.

Alvar ignored him and continued. "And all the while, they ignored me. _I_ was always more talented. _I_ had the greater potential. And that is why _I_ am standing here, and _you_ lie only semi conscious in a chair. If they could see us now-"

"They'd see a monster."

Alvar scowled. "Fitz, I am not the monster. You soaked up all the attention, smiling your _brilliant_ smile, while I stood by unnoticed. Unwanted. You were so busy being perfect, that you turned your _dazzling_ teal eyes away from me," Alvar spat.

"That's not true and you know it," Fitz said quietly. "I tried to bring the attention back to you-"

"Shut it Fitz! I _know_ you helped! That's what makes it so infuriating!" fumed Alvar. "It's be _so_ much _easier_ to hate you if you had ignored me. But no! You brought me in the center too. Everyone still ignored me. Why can't you not be perfect for _one STUPID SECOND_?!"

"I'm not perfect. I've made my fair share of mistakes."

"I. Don't. Care." Alvar glared at Fitz. He pulled a small device from his jacket. "And now you'll pay."

Fitz felt a sudden rush of pain. He couldn't quite place what type of pain it was. All he know was that it was the worst kind. The kind where you would rather die than endure it. Fitz screamed, but no sound came. He had lost his voice from screaming so much.

The pain continued. And through it, he could barely make out a voice. Every time the voice spoke, the pain intensified.

"Golden Boy," the voice said.

"Golden Child."

"Perfect."

"Wonderboy."

Fitz gasped for air as the pain suddenly stopped, all at once. He closed his eyes, and sobbed in relief.

"Unless you tell us what we want to know, that will happen again, for twice as long," came Alvar's voice.

Fitz distantly heard a door slam closed, the sound ringing in his ears.

He would _not_ give them what they wanted. No matter what.

But one thing was different.

He would not tell them anything, but he no longer waited for rescue.

No longer hoped that his friends would come.

And his spirit was broken.

 **Please Review!**


	8. Chapter 7

**Hey everyone, a new chapter! Enjoy! (Hopefully.. ;) )**

Sophie groaned as her mind swam with pain. Using all of her energy, she traveled through her mind to the nook she had found last time she had a restrictor on. She let herself be enveloped by the warmness. But the nook was soon attacked with pain, and she had to sink deeper and deeper until her mind replayed only one scene over and over again.

Sophie had no idea why her mind would choose this memory, but she focused on _it_ instead of the pain.

It was a Cognate training session with her and Fitz.

Mr. Forkle had chosen the topic for that session- which meant it was unbelievably _embarrassing_.

For reasons unknown to the universe, he made them talk about their past.. romantic life.

Yup.

Talking about her romance life.

With her crush.

 _Nothing_ could go wrong.

Thankfully the conversation had been dull at best, but still.

The scene before her unfolded. It showed Sophie and Fitz sitting side by side, their mental energy connected.

 _Sophie tugged at an itchy eyelash nervously. "Can I go first?" she asked, wanting to get it over with._

 _Fitz nodded, and she smiled her thanks._

I've never dated anyone _, she transmitted to Fitz._ Or kissed anyone. Or anything like that. Oh, and I want to save my first kiss until marriage. That's.. pretty much it. _She wasn't sure why she had transmitted the last part, but it was too late to take it back._

 _Fitz snorted._ I have no idea why Mr. Forkle is making us talk about this _, he transmitted back._ Mine is just as boring. I've never kissed anyone. Or dated. Or anything like that, either. And about the first kiss until marriage.. Same.

 _She smiled, and nearly blurted out something about them getting married, but saved herself by asking, "What was the next topic Mr. Forkle wanted us to talk about?"_

" _Umm.. I think he wanted us to talk about one person we both know, and tell each other our true feelings about that person. That way we trust each other to keep that confidential," Fitz said._

 _Sophie groaned. "Great._ Just _what I need."_

 _Fitz smirked as Sophie tried to hide behind her hair. "Hey, I feel the same way. Anyway, I can go first," he offered._

" _Please do," Sophie said._

" _So who do you want to talk about? Keefe?"_

 _Fitz recoiled as Sophie shouted "NO!"_

" _Sorry," she said quickly. "But.. maybe we could do someone else?"_

 _Fitz shrugged. "Sure. But who?"_

" _Can we do something easy? Like Fintan? Cause I think we both feel the same way about_ him."

 _Fitz smiled. "That sounds great."_

 _Sophie sighed in relief. It had already gotten awkward when they had talked about.._ romance _.. so doing someone easy sounded perfect._

I think Fintan is the lowest person ever _, Fitz transmitted._ And I think he's a complete and total scumbag.

I agree with you 100% _, transmitted Sophie._

" _Anything else we have to do?" asked Sophie._

 _Fitz thought for a second, then shook his head. "Nope. Session is over."_

" _Okay."_

 _It was perfect timing too, because Keefe rushed up, waving a dinosaur stuffed animal._

" _GUYS!" he shouted. "GUESS WHAT I FOUND IN BANGS BOY'S ROOM?!" He held the dinosaur like it was a trophy. "THIS IS PERFECT!"_

 _Sophie closed her eyes. Poor Tam. "Keefe," she said, "Put the animal back."_

 _Keefe shook his head. "THIS IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE!"_

" _Keefe," Sophie said in mock sternness, "Put the animal back_ now _and never tease Tam about it."_

 _Keefe pouted. "But.. but this is amazing. It's like a gift all wrapped up in shiny bow."_

 _Linh walked up. "I heard shouting-" she stopped when she saw the stuffed dinosaur in Keefe's hand, and smothered a grin. "Keefe, that's not Tam's," she said._

 _Keefe nearly dropped the animal in shock. "W-what?!"_

" _It's_ mine _," Linh continued._

 _Keefe stuttered for a few seconds, before wordlessly tossing it to her. "Sorry," he mumbled, and quickly walked away._

 _Linh smirked slightly, and went back to her and Tam's room to put it away._

 _Sophie giggled at Keefe's antics. "We have the best friends," she whispered to Fitz._

 _Fitz smiled back at her. "Yeah."_

The scene played over and over until Sophie almost had it memorized. Then the pain came back, and she became unconscious again.

O0o0o0o0o0o0

Dex had barely awoken from his drug-induced haze, when he continued working on the device that he hoped would help him and the others escape. He had unobtrusively pick pocketed one of Umber's gadgets, and was now turning it into what he hoped was a rescue device.

No sooner had he begun to work on it, then Trix walked back into the room, and he hid the tiny device in his sleeve quickly.

Trix shoved a sweet-smelling rag over his mouth, and he fell unconscious once again.

0o0o0o0o0o

Keefe gritted his teeth as Umber tightened his ropes. Umber then shoved a rag over his mouth, and he fell unconscious.

He startled awake, but he wasn't.. _awake_. He was awake in his own mind, but not in the real world.

He walked through his mind, not seeing any of his memories. Except one.

He focused on it, and started in surprise as he realized it was the day he and Fitz had met at school.

 _A few kids walked over to Keefe, and he looked at them nervously. He had skipped a grade, and most of his classmates weren't exactly.. thrilled.. with him._

 _The largest of the group, a boy named Skay, said, "Look, it's the little boy who thinks he's so smart."_

 _Keefe backed up as Skay walked threateningly forwards. "I- I-" Keefe stuttered, but couldn't say anything._

" _What? Are you so dumb that you can't even speak?" Skay sneered._

 _Skay raised his fist, about to punch Keefe, when a voice with a crisp accent cut in._

" _I don't think that would be a good idea," Fitz said._

 _Skay whirled around. "And who are you?"_

" _Fitz Vacker."_

" _Look,_ Fitz _, you better stay out of this, if you know what's good for you."_

 _Fitz looked at him calmly. "No."_

 _Skay curled his hand into a fist. "Looks like someone else wants to get beat up," he said, stepping towards Fitz._

 _Fitz took a step backwards, but was effectively blocked by the rest of the group._

" _Leave him alone," growled Keefe. He didn't know who this - Fitz - was, but he had tried to help._

 _Skay glared at him. He was about to reply, when one of his friends said suddenly and urgently, "We're late for class!" Skay growled, and settled for punching Fitz in the stomach, shoving Keefe over, and stalking off._

 _Fitz doubled over in pain, clutching his stomach. After a few seconds, he managed to straighten. Trying to push away the pain, he held a hand out to Keefe to help him up._

 _Keefe took it, and Fitz pulled him up._

" _Thanks," Keefe said gratefully. "For helping me up_ and _for defending me."_

 _Fitz smiled. "No problem."_

 _Keefe held out his hand. "I'm Keefe Sencen."_

 _Fitz shook Keefe's hand. "I'm Fitz Vacker."_

 _And they walked to class, each sensing a new friend._

Keefe fell out of the memory, and slept a drugged sleep.

0o0o0oo0o0

Tam growled in frustration. He had just awoken from _his_ drugged sleep, and he felt useless. He struggled against the bonds, but it was no use.

Trix light leaped into the room he was in, and Tam's eyes rolled back in his head as he fell unconscious once more.

0o0o0o0o0

Linh was kept in a drug induced haze. Every time she almost woke up, there was another cloth to put her back to sleep. Her Hydrokinetic ability was too useful.

Once, but only once, there were a few seconds before she was put back to sleep.

At that time, she only had a couple seconds to think, _Tam.._ before a rag covered her mouth again.

0o0o0oo00

All five were struggling. And fighting. And all five knew one thing: This was not as bad as it looked.

It was worse.

 **Please, please, please review!**


	9. Chapter 8

**Hey everyone, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! I'm sorry that this chapter is so short.**

Fintan tapped his finger on the table. "There has to be a way to get him to tell us," he said finally. "It seems like he has broken, but perhaps he hasn't yet?"

"I know my brother," Alvar cut in. "He's _definitely_ broken."

Fintan growled in frustration. "Then why does he still refuse to tell us anything?"

Alvar shrugged.

Fintan turned suddenly to him. "I have an idea," he said, smiling cruelly. "I need you to bring me a prisoner."

"Which one?"

"Sophie."

O0o0o0o0o0

Fitz wasn't sure why they had blindfolded him, but he didn't care. He welcomed the darkness.

He heard Fintan's voice say, "Since you've been _so_ cooperative in answering our questions, I decided to bring in a little.. incentive."

Fitz shivered, and not because he was cold.

Alvar was speaking now. "Answer the questions, and we won't hurt her."

Fitz frowned. Her? Her who?

He felt a hand ripping off his blindfold, and he blinked a few times to adjust to the sudden light.

He recoiled in surprise at what he saw.

He saw Sophie in a chair with an ability restrictor on, barely conscious.

"Sophie?" he whispered in shock.

Ruy stepped up. "We haven't harmed her.. yet. Refuse to answer our questions, and that may change."

"If you harm one hair on her head-"

"Your loyalty is sweet. Now. _What are the Black Swan planning?_ " Fintan held a sphere of everblaze near Sophie's arm. "Remember the consequences of silence."

Fitz shook his head to rid his eyes of the tears that threatened to come. Somehow this was so much worse than any of the other things they had done to him. They had taken his sense of happiness. His freedom. His spirit. They couldn't have Sophie too.

Fitz debated in his head. He _couldn't_ let them hurt Sophie. But at the same time, Sophie would want him to stay quiet, rather than keep her from getting hurt.

Fintan moved the flame closer to Sophie's arm. "Well?" he growled.

"I'm deciding," Fitz snapped.

"Not much decision, lover boy. Either you tell us and she remains unharmed, or you stay quiet like a coward and we torture her."

Fitz growled quietly. "Fine," he spat. "The Black Swan are planning something that has to do with one of the members going undercover in an organization _different_ from the Neverseen."

"That's not good enough."

Fitz stared up at Fintan defiantly. "They keep us at arm's length."

"Which member?" When Fitz didn't answer, Fintan moved the flame even closer to Sophie.

"Blur."

"Who is that?"

"I don't know."

"Which organization?"

Fitz hesitated, then said, "The Council."

"And _how_ do they plan to do _that_?"

"I don't know. I didn't get specifics."

Fintan's lips curled into a smile. "Thank you, Fitz," he smirked. "You've been _very_ helpful."

Fitz was blindfolded again, and he heard them drag out the chair that Sophie was in.

He exhaled a sigh of slight relief.

No sooner had he done that, when he felt Jolie shock him all over his body again.

Apparently the torture was not done.

A few minutes later, she stopped.

Fitz wheezed for breath, and in between gasps, he asked, "Why are you still torturing me?"

Jolie shrugged. "Because we need you to ask more questions, and Fintan somehow thinks we can do it without Sophie. He hates having her be vital to our plan, aka be the thing that gets you talking."

"Sophie is a _she_ not a thing."

"Right. Keep telling yourself that."

Fitz looked her in the eyes and saw nothing but cold-hearted blackness.

He cringed away from her, and she smirked when she saw his reaction. "What's the matter honey?" she taunted in a sweet voice. "Scared of me? Maybe even.. terrified?"

Fitz spat at her feet, and Jolie's smile twisted into a sneer. "Or maybe," she said more coldly, "You're just an idiot coward that breaks down and spills all of his secrets when he sees his _girlfriend_ nearly get hurt."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Uh-huh. Actually, that makes sense. She's _way_ out of your league."

Fitz closed his eyes. "If you're going to torture me, might as well get it over with."

Jolie raised an eyebrow. "You don't want to stall?"

"I don't really care if you hurt me."

Jolie looked at him skeptically, then grinned slightly. "You really _are_ broken, aren't you?"

Fitz didn't reply, and that confirmed Jolie's question.

She smirked, but started to walk towards the door. "I'm not getting any answers out of you, am I?" Not waiting for a reply, she left.

She was right.

Fitz was broken.

All he felt was a black numbness.

However...

There was a key to fix him.

Something that could bring life back to him.

Because..

He didn't care about anything.

Except Sophie.

 **Please, please review!**


	10. Chapter 9

**Hey everyone, thank you** ** _so_** **much to everyone who reviewed! I really appreciate it!**

Dex groggily woke up from his drug induced sleep. He slipped the device from his sleeve into his hand, and kept working on the device, until finally, it was finished.

He was surprised that Trix hadn't come back yet, but he took advantage of this.

He craned his neck, trying to see the screen. He could barely glimpse it, but it would have to do.

First, he got his I.P. address. Then he slowly texted Biana's imparter. The message said:

 _Kidnapped by Neverseen. Get help. My I.P. is 94859483 Hurry._

He barely had time to hit send before Trix came back and drugged him again.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Biana yelped in surprise when she heard her imparter beep. She had been sleeping, and it surprised her. She took one look at the message and paled.

Glad she had slept in her clothes, she ran to her parents.

"Mom, Dad, look!" she said urgently, showing them her imparter screen.

Alden and Della recoiled a bit.

Alden turned to Della. "Contact the Collective. We need to get to that address as soon as possible."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Dex startled awake when he heard shouts of surprise. There was thumping against his door, and he frowned in puzzlement until he remembered the message he had sent.

The door crashed open, and Alden hurried into the room. Dex sighed in relief as Alden cut his bonds.

"Trix?" Dex asked.

"We got her," called a voice from the other room.

The person came into the room, and Dex rushed to her.

"Mom!" he cried, nearly crashing into her.

"I'm so glad you're okay. We didn't know where you were when you didn't come back, and the Council refused to track you until we were sure you were missing."

"Where's Biana?"

"We forced her to stay home."

Dex nodded, then grew serious. "We have to rescue the others. Sophie, Tam, Linh, and Keefe are bound somewhere like me. And Fitz…" Dex bit his lip. "I know the coordinates of where all of them are, because of this device I stole from Umber. For everyone except Fitz, we're only up against Umber. But for Fitz… we're up against Fintan, Ruy, Gethen, Alvar, and whoever they rescued from Lumenaria."

The adults exchanged a glance. "Let's get Sophie and the others first," Alden said finally.

They tracked and light leaped to Sophie's location. She had an ability restrictor on, and Dex quickly disabled it.

"Dex?" she mumbled, confused.

Dex quickly filled her in as he untied her.

They then light leaped to where Keefe was.

Umber was there.

"W-what?" Umber stuttered, but quickly recovered.

And she did what any member in the Neverseen without a fighting ability would have done.

She ran.

Alden dashed after her, and quickly caught her, tying her up.

Sophie cut Keefe loose, transmitting what was happening to him.

The group quickly got Tam and Linh next.

Now for Fitz.

Alden set the light leaping crystal to Fitz's coordinates, and hesitated before creating the path. "You realize we're going into a room full of murderers, right?"

Sophie resisted the urge to pull out an itchy eyelash. "What else is new?"

Alden created the path, everyone linked hands, and stepped through.

However, they weren't in the room Fitz was in.

They were in the room next to it.

Which meant they were face to face with the Neverseen.

Fintan was torturing Fitz, so he wasn't in the room.

Ruy reacted quickly, and Sophie saw what was coming next. "Scatter," she shouted, and everyone dove, and the forcefield only trapped Linh. But a member of the Neverseen was in the forcefield too. Alvar.

Ruy continued shooting forcefields, putting everyone in a one on one fight.

Sophie vs Gethen.

Keefe vs Ruy.

And Dex vs Jolie.

Tam, Alden, and Juline were trapped in a different forefield, with no one to fight. They could only watch.

Tam tried to use the shadow vapor trick he had before, but found he couldn't.

That's when everyone made their attack.

Linh shot a tidal wave at Alvar, but he dove out of the way. Dodging her water attacks, he made his way forward.

As he pulled out a knife, Linh made a large sphere out water around herself, and made it hard as ice.

Alvar stabbed the shield with the knife, and the wall shattered.

Linh desperately fired more water, but it was no use.

Just as Alvar was about to reach her, he slipped on one of the pieces of shattered ice, and fell to the floor. Using the distraction to her advantage, Linh pinned Alvar down with water.

No matter how much he struggled, he couldn't get up.

She created another ball of water-ice, and launched it at his head, knocking him unconscious.

Sophie narrowed her eyes at Gethen.

Gethen smirked back at her.

"Wanna play inside my head? Because trust me, I can beat you physically," Gethen offered.

Sophie started to shake her head, but then saw it was her best option. She needed to save her inflicting for Fintan.

She entered Gethen's mind, and immediately saw it was a mistake. His subconscious attacked hers viciously, and she frantically tried to block the attacks.

She shielded herself, then started her own attack. She shot mental blasts at him, and he scrambled to defend himself.

This continued on and off, until both grew tired. Then, Sophie got an idea. While Gethen was focused on blocking her mental attacks, she dashed towards him, and tackled him to the ground. She took him by surprise, and before he could react, she punched him with her sucker punch, knocking him unconscious.

Keefe glared at Ruy. "Not very fair, is it? I don't have an ability that attacks. Then again, you never did care what was fair," Keefe said.

Ruy didn't reply, instead shot forcefield blasts at Keefe. Keefe managed to dodge them, and suddenly ran towards Ruy, ducking under another forcefield. Keefe snatched a knife that Ruy held, and turned back to Ruy.

Ruy shot more forcefields, but Keefe blocked it with the knife, advancing towards Ruy. When he got close enough, Ruy stopped shooting, and instead got out another of his knives.

Keefe lunged at Ruy, and Ruy blocked the attack. Ruy brought down his knife in a sweeping stroke, but Keefe deflected it, twisting the knife when their blades rang together.

The knife was forced from Ruy's hands, and Keefe knocked him unconscious with the hilt of his dagger.

Dex nearly fell over in shock when he saw who he was fighting. "Jolie?"

Jolie just smiled at him.

Dex recovered quickly, and pulled out the device he had stolen from Umber. He had recently turned it into a weapon to deliver electric shocks. Little did he know that this was also Jolie's ability.

Jolie rushed at him, and he shocked her with the device. She shrieked in pain and surprise, but quickly shocked him back.

Dex brought the gadget back around to shock her again, but she knocked it out of his hands.

Jolie tried to shock him again, but he twisted out of reach.

Then, doing the only logical thing possible, he ran.

He stopped short when he reached the end of the forcefield, and Jolie smirked, sure she had him cornered.

But when she ran at him, he ducked and rolled at the last second.

Jolie crashed into the forcefield, which shocked her, and she fell to the ground, unconscious.

Just then, the forcefields went down for all of them, since Keefe had just defeated Ruy.

Wordlessly, they turned to the door that led to where Fitz was.

Sophie opened it, and the group sprinted inside. And stopped short when they saw that Fintan had a flame to Fitz's head.

"Come any closer, and I'll kill him."

Sophie wanted to inflict, but Fitz would get hit too.

Fintan seemed to sense what she was thinking, and said, "He's _very_ weak. Inflict, and he'll die."

Sophie swallowed hard, and Fintan continued to hold the flame to Fitz's head, moving it closer.

"Now, surrender," Fintan ordered.

Sophie took a deep breath, and was about to do just that, when there was a loud crash, and Fintan slumped the floor, unconscious.

Biana appeared next to his unconscious form. She held a large wooden beam which she had used to hit Fintan.

"Don't _ever_ tell me to stay home again," Biana said to Alden.

Alden nodded slightly.

Sophie ran to Fitz, who had been staring straight ahead this entire time, barely even registering that they were there.

She took his the bruises, cuts, burns, and shocks all over his body. "What did they do to you?" she whispered in horror.

Sophie looked into his teal eyes, and saw a haunted look in them.

"Fitz," she choked out. "We're here to rescue you. You're safe."

Fitz just shrugged, not caring. He didn't care about anything.

"Fitz?"

Fitz finally spoke. "You don't know what they did to me Sophie. You might as well leave me here. Let me die."

"Fitz, I-"

"I'm broken, Sophie," Fitz shouted. He turned away, and said more softly, "I'm broken."

Sophie's eyes started welling with tears.

No.

 _No._

They had finally found Fitz.

Mission accomplished, right?

But he was broken.

They had to fix him.

They had rescued Fitz from the Neverseen.

Now they had to rescue him from himself.

 **Please, please, please review!**


	11. Chapter 10

**Hey everyone! Thanks again to everyone who reviewed!**

Sophie nearly sighed in frustration.

Nearly.

Elwin and Physic had healed the physical scars on Fitz. It took them three weeks. But they had done it.

As for the mental scars…

She couldn't get Fitz to tell her what they had done to him, and he stared at everything blankly.

Except her.

But she couldn't get him to talk. The real thing that bothered her was the haunted look in his eyes.

Eventually, she entered his head to look at the memories.

She saw everything they did to him, saw the pain he endured.

It was too much.

Too much.

A voice cut through her thoughts. "Foster?" Keefe asked. She whirled around to face him. "You cried out. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I- yeah. It's just.. The stuff they did to Fitz.. He's definitely broken," she whispered the last part, like if she said it too loud, it would make it more true.

"Fitz?" Sophie asked. He turned to her, and raised an eyebrow in question. "Will you- what do you-" Sophie couldn't continue, and her eyes filled with tears. She started to sob slightly.

Fitz was gone.

His spirit was gone.

She felt someone at her side, comforting her. She glanced to the side, and saw that it was Keefe.

"I'll leave you and Fitz," he said quietly.

Sophie nodded, and blinked her tears away as Keefe left.

Sophie braced herself, and entered Fitz's mind again. She traveled to the nook in his mind, and saw his mental self, sitting with his head in his hands. Sophie bit her lip, and started to fill the area with happy memories. Memories of his family, his friends. But every time she projected a memory, it was shot down and replaced with a memory of when he was tortured.

She finally gave up with that approach, and instead walked over to his mental figure.

"Fitz?" Sophie said softly.

Fitz looked up, and Sophie recoiled at what she saw.

It was Fitz, but his face was different. He had burn scars on his face. His nose was broken and completely twisted. He had a long cut mark across his right cheek. One of his eyes was blackened shut.

The message was clear. Fitz may have recovered physically, but mentally he was still as beaten and bruised as ever.

He saw her, and he gave a hint of smile, but it was gone so quickly that Sophie thought she must have imagined it.

"Yes?" Fitz asked. Sophie started in shock. It was the first time he had spoken since they had left the Neverseen base. It was in his mind, but still.

"What can I do to help you?" Sophie asked carefully.

"Nothing. I'm broken, Sophie. I hung on to life, for you. But I'm broken. There's nothing that can fix me. Except maybe you. I don't know."

"But how? _How_ do I fix you?"

"Take away the pain, the mental scars."

"Is that possible?"

"No. Yes. Maybe."

"That's incredibly helpful." The sarcasm in her voice cut like a whip. "I'm sorry," she immediately said. "It's not your fault."

They sat in silence for a while. "You need to leave, Sophie," Fitz said eventually.

"Why?"

"Go."

"But-"

"Leave!" Fitz shouted.

Sophie quickly withdrew from his mind.

Was Fitz ever going to be okay again?

0o0o0o0o0

"What about a Washer?" the question had come up. And the person it was addressed to quickly shook their head to dispel any hope.

"The scars go too deep."

0o0o0o0o

"Fitz. You need to talk about it," said Sophie.

Fitz shook his head, not willing to relive the nightmares.

"Talking about it will help you."

Fitz just looked at her.

"Fitz. Please."

Silence.

0o0o0o0o0o0

There was a time a few weeks later when Biana had blown up at her brother. She was angry at him for refusing to talk, for getting captured, for breaking.

She was actually angry at herself, telling herself that she should have been there, stopped them, done something.

She yelled at Fitz, screaming about him being stubborn, him being silent, him refusing. At one point she claimed that the reason he was silent was because he was too stupid to talk.

She hadn't been thinking straight.

But the whole time Biana was on her tirade, Fitz was cringing away from her. The Neverseen had yelled in frustration when _they_ wanted answers, and a burning or beating usually followed. She seemed to realize what she was doing, saw the fear in his eyes, and tried to apologize.

But it was too late. The damage was done.

0o0o0o0o0

Sophie got no sleep. She spent all her time with Fitz. She was too worried. She wanted to fix him more than anything in the world. But nothing was working. She barely ate. Every second was spent at his side.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Sophie observed the reaction of her friends.

Biana was always in tears, trying to visit Fitz to reconcile. She was in a depression.

Keefe was always moody, trying to fix Fitz too. He was in desperation.

Tam was always thinking, trying not to believe that Fitz was actually broken. He was in denial.

Linh was always gone, trying to not think about Fitz. She was in despair.

Dex was always tinkering, trying to create a device to make Fitz better. He was in oblivion.

And Sophie. Sophie was always there, trying to make Fitz _come back_. She was in misery.

0o0o0o0o0

For a month this continued, until one day Sophie was at the end of her rope. She _needed_ Fitz. Without him, there was something missing. She felt like a hole had been ripped in her heart. _Nothing_ was _working._ She cursed the Neverseen for breaking Fitz. She cursed Fitz for being loyal, and not telling the Neverseen what they wanted to know. And she cursed herself for letting Fitz get taken. It should have been her.

So when Fitz did not speak yet again, she finally snapped.

But her anger was not a hot anger. It was a cold one. Icy, frosty, anger.

"Don't you care?" she whispered. "Don't you see what you're doing to people? Biana is a wreck. Keefe hasn't made a wisecrack in _weeks._ Tam refuses to do anything. Linh has closed herself off from everyone. Dex is completely going off in some false hope. And I am totally wrecked.

"Whether you like it or not, Fitzroy Avery Vacker, you are a part of our lives. Without you, we are incomplete.

"I _get_ that you're broken. What the Neverseen did to you it unspeakable. No one should have to go through that.

"But don't you care about us? Don't you care about _me_?"

There was complete silence for a few seconds.

"I do," Fitz whispered. It was the first time he had spoken out loud in the physical world since he had come back. "I do care about you, Sophie," he said in a hoarse voice.

Then he started to sob, tears flowing freely down his cheeks. He wept bitterly, and Sophie held him.

She held him as he cried for as long as he needed.

Finally, he was done.

Sophie gently wiped a tear from his face.

"Thank you," Fitz whispered.

Sophie nodded, and she wrapped his arms around him, pulling him into a hug. They sat there, and the mental scars slowly started to heal.

Finally, Fitz pulled away.

"How are you?" Sophie asked.

"Better. Not completely healed, but better."

Sophie nodded. "Better is good."

There were several more sessions like this, and as the weeks past, Fitz slowly healed.

After a month, he was healed completely. He still had scars, and he would still have nightmares, but he was no longer broken.

Fitz walked to Keefe and the others. They gaped at him being up.

"I'm sorry," he said finally.

The others laughed, some of them crying with joy and relief, and pulled him into a group hug.

"So, are you okay now?" Biana asked.

Fitz nodded quietly.

"Let me guess. Foster fixed you?" Keefe inquired.

Fitz nodded again.

"I knew you'd come back," said Tam.

Linh just simply smiled.

Dex crushed the gadget in his hands. "Don't need this anymore," he muttered, but his voice was cheerful.

Fitz looked at his hands. "I'm guessing you want to know what they did to me." It was a statement, not a question, and everyone nodded reluctantly. They didn't want to push him too far, but they were curious.

Fitz plunged into the tale of his kidnapping, recounting most memories, but not getting too far into the details.

The others listened with a mix of horror and awe.

Horror at what they did to him.

Awe at how much he endured.

Finally, an hour and a dry throat later, he was finished.

"So basically," Dex summed up, "The Neverseen captured you and turned you into a punching bag."

"Or burning/shocking bag, depending on which member you're talking about," put in Keefe.

Tam let out a low whistle. "I'm surprised it took that long to make you break," he said, letting a note of admiration creep into his voice.

Fitz smiled a sad smile. "Yeah. I came pretty close. But then I thought of all of you guys, and I held on for you. I thought of how-"

"Hold up," said Keefe. "Before this becomes any more sappy, I vote we sit down at a table."

"Keefe…" Sophie rolled her eyes.

"What, Foster? My legs are getting tired."

Sophie raised an eyebrow, but the group went and sat down at the table anyway.

"Anyway, Fitz, you were saying?" prompted Linh.

"Right. I thought of how Keefe couldn't afford to lose another friend. How my parents couldn't take another heartbreak. How Biana wouldn't be able to cope. How miserable Sophie would be. And how devastated you guys would be. And when I thought of that, it was easier to not break. It wasn't _easy,_ but easier."

It would be a lie to say that there were not tears in everyone's eyes. Not all of the tears were released, but they were still there.

The seven of them sat at the table for hours, talking about old memories, their goals, the future, and at one point the weather. They talked about anything that was worth talking about. But whatever the topic, they were content.

Because they had Fitz back.

Fitz was fixed.

 **This is, sadly, the last chapter of this saga. A huge thank you to every single one of my reviewers. And as always, please review!**


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